Source Code MMO etc.!

Hi guys,

I'm totally baffled that we don't have access to the source code. I know this has always been the policy here at 3DBuzz, but for a project of this complexity I find it an impertinence to not have access to the source code, at least as a fallback in case one gets irrevocably stuck.
I just watched the first 15 or so hours of content and already ran into two situations where I've really missed the source code a lot. I lost hours and hours trying to track down the source of the problem. It's just frustrating and kills the fun part of learning to code and MMO. I don't even want to know how many similar situation will arise over the course of the entire series. If only the community here would be very active and could help out, but even that is not the case. At least I don't see much activity here. Or does the MMO series have its own dedicated channel?

Even the Mobile App Dev training kit was delivered with source code (I guess because of the complexity?) and now we are working on a full blown MMO or rather MOBA and get no access to Nelson's repository. Wow.

In my opinion, a provider of video training should make the learning process as much fun and as smooth as possible, with professional guidance and easy to follow chunks of information, no matter the complexity.
Especially the way the source code problem is handled here has always been a bad business decision. Training providers like Lynda or Plural Sight are lightyears ahead in the way they deliver content. Sure, they don't go as deep as developing an entire MMO, but if they did, they would do much more well thought out I'm sure.
I also hate the fact that after all these years, nobody at 3DBuzz told Nelson to slow down his typing. It's just extremely stressful to follow video training where the tutor is typing away at lightning speed. This is BAD TEACHING for god's sake! It's just extremely stressful to follow this teaching style for 100+ hours.

Now that Nelson will be leaving in a couple of months this project will be dead anyway, right? I heard we will get the source code when he leaves, but in the meantime it's the same frustrating situation.

I'm curious to know how you guys think about my points. I can't imagine I'm the first who complains.

I understand how you feel, I have been in this class from the beginning and I can't tell you the amount of hours and times I have had to watch videos over and over again to find my errors. But having said that I have learned so much more that if all I had to do was compare my code to Nelsons. Now yes I have been so stuck on more than one occasion that I had to wait on help "just search my threads" and you will see that I got through it and became better at understanding how to deal with problems.

One one has ever tried to do something like this as far as I know which is why I don't think the code is available.

Hi guys,
Now that Nelson will be leaving in a couple of months this project will be dead anyway, right? I heard we will get the source code when he leaves, but in the meantime it's the same frustrating situation.
Thanks!

Actually I didn't know Nelson is leaving soon. Can I assume that's true? Where is the announcement?
I makes a big difference to me.

I also hate the fact that after all these years, nobody at 3DBuzz told Nelson to slow down his typing.

That's the reason I do the yearly subs, so I can download the videos and get better control over the playback. I need to pause and regress the videos many times when typing them.

Also I can see why the sourcecode is not available. I may not agree with it - yes it's been a complex project - but if it's closing down soon it may not matter much any more. That's sad. I've invested a lot of time and energy into this project. And I'm getting a lot better typing in code from Nelson.

hi all
to be honest, i never thought that a real MMO would be developed in 3dbuzz, from day one, i knew that something as big as mmo would be really hard to implement with one man team. yet, what nelson developed in chapter 12 had a very big promising end. as he spoke in one of radio shows, there is little difference between sending chat messages over wire with sending information for the game, YET, there are big things to cover, AI is one of them, what would handle that? normally it would be the server, but how? and that is one of the many questions about any online game. honestly, now that i heard nelson would leave 3d buzz, that makes me sad, but still, there are many things to learn from the videos, take lee's r&d for example, although it had many many uncovered aspects it's still a semi valid source for terrain generation and my main source for future chapters specially the one that will cover the terrain system i am dreaming of making
so, it's not a big surprise to me that MMO will be stopped and a dead end, but still, there are many things to learn from it, if you just stop looking for the MMO stuff itself and try to learn how nelson is handling project and api development, it's still a gold mine to dig The only thing i wish that happen, is that nelson upload at least one final video and make sure that the whole project works with latest photon version

Last edited by css_maya; 08-30-2016 at 07:21 AM.

If you want to learn something, start teaching about it to others, nothing will help you more than that !

Now that Nelson will be leaving in a couple of months this project will be dead anyway, right? I heard we will get the source code when he leaves, but in the meantime it's the same frustrating situation.

I'm curious to know how you guys think about my points. I can't imagine I'm the first who complains.

Thanks!

Hey im curious where/how did you find out that Nelson is leaving ? and no your not the first person to complain about the total trash/money grab that the MMO project has been since the start.

Sorry I haven't looked into this thread for a while as I haven't gotten any responses soon after posting. Here is what I just wrote in another thread about Nelson's departure:

According to Angela, Nelson will be leaving in a few months. Nelson will try to wrap up the MMO as best as he can and then distribute the source code to all member sponsors who have been sponsors for at least 6 months.
They are currently looking for a new developer. It wasn't mentioned whether or not this new developer is supposed to continue the MMO series, start it from scratch or abandon it alltogether.
3DBuzz will continue for as long as it's a sustainable business she said. I know that's very vague.

Now yes I have been so stuck on more than one occasion that I had to wait on help "just search my threads" and you will see that I got through it and became better at understanding how to deal with problems.

I know how to deal with problems pretty well. Troubleshooting has been an integral part of my daily work just like it's the case with most other people. The thing is that an MMO is something new for me and out of my comfort zone. I can't apply effective troubleshooting technqiues in a domain I am hardly familiar with as I lack lots of that contextual knowledge. I might come up with a solution in the end, but the path to it will be so rocky, uncomfortable and annoying that I will lose interest and thus spend my time elsewhere. More power to you if you managed to push you through all this. All I'm saying is that there are better ways to teach and provide guidance with far less frustration.

Originally Posted by oldngrey

And I'm getting a lot better typing in code from Nelson.

See, I don't want to adjust to Nelson's typing even though I would probably get better at typing his code out with time. He as a (professional) tutor has to adapt to OUR needs. As simple as that. It's such a basic rule which pretty much all the big training sites have learnt to master except for 3DBuzz. It's an ongoing annoyance. My spare time is rare and I need to absorb content in the most efficient and easily accessible manner possible. I don't have the time to rewatch a lesson ten times just to find that one important chunk I was missing while watching the lesson first.
Before you launch a complex project like an MMO you need to ask yourself thoroughly how to best deliver that content. Here are a few important ideas that this conceptual phase should have resulted in:

- The tutor shouldn't type away at lighing speed
- The tutor shouldn't use shortcuts (which people obviously can't see)
- The tutor shouldn't switch between windows too fast
- The tutors should type small chunks of code and explain them immediately, not type out walls of text and explain the code thereafter
- Source code needs to be provided and regularly updated through a repository or other means
- A video player should be used that allows for playback speed adjustments
- The video player's timeline should scale up when in fullscreen mode so that users can jump more precisely to certain moments in the timeline

...

And many more things!

There is quite a bit of content here on 3DBuzz where these problems don't matter that much, but they become a torture to deal with when it comes to developing an entire MMO!